Courtesy of Judith Gregg Librarian Catherine Arbogast heads out with a personalized book delivery from the Los Altos main library.

Love of learning and curiosity about the world sometimes grow only more urgent as a person spends more and more time at home, limited by age, health condition, or both. Librarians head out from the Los Altos main l...

Already known as an innovator in the tech field, Google Inc. is now moving in on the art world.

The Mountain View-based company July 11 launched the “Paint the Town” contest, a “moving art experiment” that invites California residents over the age of 13 to submit physical or digital artwork that would decorate the door...

Traci Newell/Town Crier The six-week, tuition-free Stretch to Kindergarten program, hosted at Bullis Charter School, serves children who have not attended preschool. A teacher leads children in singing about the parts of a butterfly, above.

courtesy of Rishi Bommannan Rishi Bommannan cycled from Bates College in Maine to his home in Los Altos Hills, taking several selfies along the way. He also raised nearly $13,000 for the Livestrong Foundation, which supports cancer patients.

The Town Crier’s recent article on coyotes venturing down from the foothills in search of sustenance referenced the organization Project Coyote (“Recent coyote attacks keep residents on edge,” July 1). Do not waste your time contac...

Photos by Alicia Castro/Town Crier Local residents participate in an exercise class at the Grant Park Senior Center, above. Betsy Reeves, below left with Gail Enenstein, lobbied for senior programming in south Los Altos.

Grace Wilson Franks, our beloved mother and grandmother, left us peacefully on July 16, 2015 just a few weeks short of her 92nd birthday. She was born to Ross and Florence (Cruzan) Wilson in rural Tulare, California on Septem...

Most of us have a place inside our hearts and minds that occasionally causes us trouble. For some, it is sadness, depression or despair. For others, it may be fear, anger, resentment or myriad other emotional “dark places” that at times seem to hij...

Christine Moore/ Special to the Town Crier Speed chill a bottle of white wine by wrapping it in a slightly damp towel and putting it in the freezer for 10 minutes.

A British friend of mine has given me many sound and useful bits of advice over the years. Some of her guidance has proved indispensable in my life, such as her tip for chilling wine quickly.

I was in the midst of a particularly stress-filled move when she advised, “As soon as you get to the new kitchen, throw a bottle of white wine in the freezer. It’ll be ready in 20 minutes, which is just enough time to find the box labeled “Glasses.” It worked.

Of course, not all white wines should be drunk at the same temperature, but this simple trick is good in a pinch. After all, you don’t always have late-harvest Gewürztraminer chilled when unexpected guests arrive with celebratory news and coconut cupcakes, or when a spectacular success in the kitchen begs for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc that is still in the grocery bag.

At face value, serving wine should be simple: buy, uncork, pour. But anyone who has fallen in love with a label only to be disappointed by its contents, struggled with crumbly corks or been let down by a wine that had previously been excellent knows that serving and enjoying wine takes some practice. Making sure the wine is the correct temperature is the critical first step.

Serving guidance

We can all learn something from Goldilocks, with her keen sense of temperatures. To get the most enjoyment out of wine, it should be served neither too warm nor too cold. Worth pointing out is that wine should be served cooler than the standard room temperature of most homes. Placing your red in the refrigerator for a short period before serving will help bring out the wine’s flavors.

Storing guidance

Much like serving temperatures, storage temperatures are not one-size-fits-all. But storing wine at the standard 55 F will help preserve it.

As important as temperature is to safely storing wine, you also want to make sure that you are keeping your wine in a dark and stable place.

There are plenty of wine refrigerators on the market these days, but you might have a rarely used dark and cool closet that would be ideal for storing wine.

There are gadgets that record the exact temperature of a wine you are serving, including digital ones that wrap around a bottle and versions that you insert into an open bottle.

For the most part, trial and error works fine for ensuring the proper temperature. For instance, put your hands around a bottle of a Cabernet Sauvignon to make sure that it isn’t warm. Or take a sip of Chardonnay to see if it is the right temperature. You’ll realize instantly if it is too cold.

As is the case with many tips that are handed down, I’ve enhanced my British friend’s quick-chill method. Wrapping the bottle in a barely damp kitchen towel before popping it in the freezer knocks the chilling time down to just 10 minutes.

For a red wine that is too cold, leaving it out on the counter for 30 minutes will help, or you could simply pour the wine into a glass and use your hands to warm it up a bit.

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